Local cabinet urges Govern to implement 061 service on island

On behalf of the governing team of the Consell de Formentera, social welfare chief Rafael Ramírez will use the upcoming monthly full-house assembly to float a proposal to push the Balearic health ministry to “implement measures necessary to establish” a base for the 061 emergency response service at the Formentera Hospital. The proposal underlines the need to coordinate the service’s jumpstarting with the reopening of borders, and to separate patients with respiratory symptoms.

In addition to asking for a reactivation of the 061 service, the proposal points to the importance —irrespective of any 061 service changes— of once again reinforcing staff if activity at the hospital returns to 2016 levels.

“More than just summer reinforcements”Conseller Ramírez said that amid the current public health crisis, “a rethinking of circuits at every level of government is imperative. It’s something that the administration is cognizant of”. But, he continued, “the 061 service isn’t just about giving Formentera a needed summertime boost; we’re talking about enabling our hospital to properly care for patients based on the presence or absence of respiratory symptoms”.

The proposal underscores physical distancing and hand-washing as tried-and-tested Covid-19 protocol, saying they are the reason hospitals are currently seeing differentiated circuits based on whether or not patients display respiratory symptoms. However, certain circumstances —when both a doctor and nurse are dispatched on an ambulance call, for instance— make putting in place such circuits more complicated.

According to Ramírez, “a differentiated 061 service at the hospital would mean the possibility of differentiated circuits if new travel conditions, and the attendant influx of residents and visitors, lead to new Covid-19 cases”.